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P L 1 T 1 C A L 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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LETTER 



MR. WHITNEY, OF NEW YORK, 



HIS CONSTITUENTS. 







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WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED AT THE OFFICE OF THE "AMERICAN OR^SAN. 
1856. 



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LETTEE. 



Washington, July 17, 1856. 

To my Fellow- Citizens of the Fifth 

Congressional District of the State of Neiv York : 

The present session of the 34th Congress has thus far heen distinguished 
on account of the virulent sectional spirit which has pervaded its delibera- 
tions._ For the first time in the history of our country a political party, 
constituted upon "geographical discriminations," has acquired the ascend- 
ency in the House of Keprosentatives, and its effects are visible in the 
fe\'erish— I had almost said, the frantic— agitation which now shakes the 
public mind. Unscrupulous politicians, not the least of whom are of our 
own State, hopeless of aggrandizement through the ordinary channels of 
political strategy, have fanned up the flames of sectional hatred, and under 
the assumed garb of philanthropists, have made hypocritical appeals to 
Northern men and Northern women, with the sole object of building up a 
Northern party, upon the shoulders of which they hope to ride to the con- 
summation of their ambitious desires. To this end they have made appeals 
to you, in the name of humanity, on behalf of the oppressed slave ; — they 
have called on you to resist the aggressions of the "slave power" upon 
free territory ; — they have demanded the restoration of the Missouri com- 
promise, and urged you that, abandoning all other preferences, all your 
convictions of judgment and patriotism, and all your cherished views and 
measures of national policy, to fight their fight in Avhat they call " the ' 
cause of Freedom," and elect their candidates to office! How much of 
sincerity has sanctified their professions may be gleaned from the utter 
barrenness of all their public acts relating directly or indirectly to that 
subject. 

The repeal of the Missouri Compromise — an act perpetrated in viola- 
tion of every principle of public faith — while it outraged the public senti- 
ment, gave an impetus to the schemes of those designing men. An in- 
stantaneous demand Avas made for the restoration of that time-honored 
compact, or in default of that, it was demanded that Kansas and Nebraska 
should be admitted into the Union as free States. Nebraska being too 
remote to enter at present into the controversy, the advocates of free soil 
and the advocates of Southern institutions have turned their eyes instinct- 
ively towards Kansas, which has, in consequence, become the great battle 
ground of sectional discussion. I need not relate to you how the conflict 
has raged ; you are as familiar with that as I am ; but what have the de- 
clared "friends of Freedom" — the great champions of free soil, the men 
in Congress to whom you look for action ; — what have they done for Kan- 
sas ? They have done much to inflame your minds and to promote sec- 



tional discord, but nothing of practical utility. They have introduced a 
bill with the following title : 

A BILL lor the admission of the State of Kansas into the Union. 
And i have been diarged with "voting againat the freedom of Kansas," 
and with leaving her in the hands of " border ruffians," because I voted 
against that bill — a bill which I pronounce to be not only a mockery of 
the needs of the Territory, but a fraud, a wilful and designed fraud, upon 
the honest sentiment of the North. It was never designed as a means of 
introducing Kansas into the Union, and it Avere no less than an insult to 
the plain common sense of Senators and Representatives, to assert that 
any one of them ever supposed it could by any possibility become a law. 
The senttment of the Northern States demands that Kansas shall be ad- 
mitted us a free State. This bill could not effect that object, and it may, 
therefore, be justly denominated an act of false pretence. Had its pro- 
jectors been candid, they would have entitled it thus : 

■> A bill to promote the election of John C. Fremont to the Presidency, bj' throwing dust 
ill the fves of the people of the Freo'^Btiites." 

As pM ill ted by those men, Kansas at this moment presents the aspect 
of a lone virgin, beautiful but liaggard, terrified and bleeding. Upon 
one of hev arms, which are raised imploringly for succor, is fixed a corrod- 
ing manacle, and her fair flesh is scarred with lacerated weals of the 
scourge : and yet, they who profess to be her especial guardians and friends, 
hearlloKsly insult her misery with cold and ostentatious mockery ! 

In order to understand this subject clearly, it is necessary to glance at 
liie liistorv uf tJiis extraordinary bill. The preamble to the bill reads as 
follo\\>: 

•• Wliciuii.s. 'I'hi^ people of Kiinsus liave presented a Constitution, and ahked for adniissioit 
into till- I'nion. wliich Constitution, on due examination, is found to be republican in its 
ibriii oT ^ovcM-nnient ; I5e it enncted, &c. ' 

1'hus tin* Bill is inaugurated with a palpable misrepresentation. The 
people of Kansas did not present that constitution. It was presented by 
a jxirti/ which had arrayed itself in direct hostility to the legitimate 
government of the Territory ; — a government which Governor Reeder him- 
self had recognized and been a part of. It was a constitution adopted in 
a revolutionai-y spirit at Topeka, and so palpably irregular and illegal, that 
the Senate of the United States, to which it had been first presented, re- 
fused to give it the smallest consideration, and the honorable Senator by 
whom it was introduced obtained leave to withdraw it. 

The revolutionary character of the body of men who prepared this con- 
stitution, and the lawless spirit which actuated them, are best shown in 
tlicir own proceedings, among which are the following resolutions, passed 
Asith but one dissenting voice : 

" Hesolved, That wc owe no allegiance or oheclicncc to the tyrannical acts of thisspurinus 
[n-jiiilarly constituted Territorial] lejrislature ; that their laws have no validity or binding 
foio.' upon the jieoplc of Kansas : and that every free man amongst us is at full liberty, cou- 
s'strmtly with all his obligations as a citizen and a man, to defy and resist them, if 
h'' clinoses so t>> do. 

" Refolded, That we will endure and submit to these laws no lonjier than the best interests 
of the Territoiy rerjuiro, as the least of two evils, and will resist them to the bloody issuC, 
.11 boon a: wc nscert^in that peaceable i^emedies ?hall foil, and forcible resi^tnnce shall fur 



nisiiany rcusoiuible prospect of success: and that, in the mean time, we recommeiul to our 
friends throughout the Territory the organization and discipline of volunteer companies luid 
preparation of arms !" 

Again, in the memorial as originally adopted by the Topeka Legislature, 
occurs the following extraordinary passage : 

'•By the provisions of the organic act, a government was cstablisliod over the Territory,^ 
and officers were appointed by the President to administer said government. This form of 
government is unknown to the constitution, is extra-constitutional, and is only the creature 
of necessity awaiting the actiou of the people, and cannot remain in force contrary to the 
will of the people living under it. It may he regarded as a benevolent provision on the part 
of Congress thus to provide a government of their own ; but when it becomes oppressive, or 
when the people become sutliciently strong to establish a government of their own, in ac- 
cordance with the constitution of the United States, it is their right so to do, and thereby 
throw otTthat extended over them." 

In this paragraph we find the spirit of revolution so intensified :is to 
deny the authority of the United States over its own territory. It assert* 
a rifiht in those \vho are permitted to enter upon the public doniaiii, to 
trample upon and annul those regulations which, under the constitution, 
Cono-ress is empowered to make for the preservation and disposition of the 
Territory. As it is not claimed that any Territory or people can enter the 
Union as a State, without the consent of Congress, the position assumed in 
this extract is equivalent to a declaration that any body of men may at any 
time seize, and set up a distinct and separate government on, the territory 
belonging to the people of the United States. This paragraph was, how- 
ever, stricken from the memorial after it reached the city of Washington ; 
but as exhibiting the temper of those who have made their appeal to the 
country, it is proper that the people of the country should see it. 

And it is because I refuse to encourage this lawless spirit, that I am 
charged with being hostile to the freedom of Kansas ! Be assured, the 
real enemies of free Kansas are those who. by political agitation and for 
sinister purposes, have baptized her soil with the blood of their innocent 
dupes. 

But there is yet another and a very important feature in the inauguration 
of this extraordinary bill for the admission of Kansas into the Union. 
The memorial purporting to be from the Topeka Legislature, was brought 
to Washington without a signature attached to it, and after having been 
altered widi additions, erasures, and interpolations, the names of the 
(so-called) Legislature were wiitten thereon by parties in Washmgton. 
This is admitted in the statement made by Col. Lane to the Senate, 
through the honorable Senator from Iowa, {Mr. Harlan.) 

It is asserted in the resolutions which I have quoted, that the Territorial^ 
Legislature of Kansas was tyrannical. Granted. Some of the acts of 
that body, passed in a season of impulse and excitement, were despotic, 
anti-republican, and, as I believe, unconstitutional. But the way of sure 
redress was nearer and pleasanter than the bood-stained pathway ot revo- 
lution. It is a maxim in our system of <rovernment, that the people will 
endure the infliction of bad laws, pcacetiBly, until the legitimate modes of 
redress are all exhausted; but those men, despising the repuljliean maxim, 
pass by the courts, and, refusing all legal interposition, plunge at once 
into civil war, discard their allegiance, defy the authorities, organize an 
armed resistance, and resolve "to abide the bloody issue." 



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It IS also asserted that the Legislature of Kansas is a - spurious" or- 
ganization. Ihis IS denied on the face of notorious facts. TKe Legisla- 
ture of that Territory is a legally constituted body, chosen by the p?ople 
of he Territory. Mr. A. H. Reeder, ^ho is now among the most active 
in denouncing it, was at the time of the election Governor of the Territory 
it was he who issued the proclamation calling the election ; it was he who 
appointed the judges of that election ; it was he who laid out and prescribed 
ohe election districts, and it was to him that the returns of the election 
were made. ^ Twenty-six members were chosen to the Territorial House of 
Representatives, and thirteen members were chosen to the Territorial 
touncil.^ Governor Pteedcr ratified the returns of seventeen of the llep- 
vesenUUves as legallT/ elected, and in consequence of frauds he rejected 
nine. Re also ratified the returns of ten of the Council as le<).aiy elected, 
and rejected three, ordering new elections to bo held to supply tiie vacancy 
of those wno were rejected Thus, nearly two-thirds of the Representa- 
tives, and nearly all the Council elect to the Kansas Legislature were 
recognized, and received their credentials from Governor R^^eder himself, 
the very man who now prounounces them a spurious organization ! 

Ihe Legislature thus constituted assembled on the 2d day of Julv 
I80O at Avhat was called Pawnee City, and wns inaugurated with a mes- 
sage from Governor Reeder. Here the Legislature commenced the per- 
formance of the business of the Territory in full ofBcial communion with 
the Governor, but finding no convenient accommodations for its sittings 
U determined to change its place of meeting to the Shawnee Mission.' 
From that moment the Governor refused to i^cognize the public acts of 
W ll {' 7 ^'^ ^^^eg;-<^«»d that it was illegally constituted, or " spurious," 
but solely because it had changed its place of meeting.* ^ 

Ihe results of thiscoUision between the Executive^nd Legislative De- 
partments of the Territory of Kansas, have been— 

...Int/-^'^'" '""""'"^ "*" ^^^^^'-'^^^ P^eeder, and the appointment of a sue- 
th 't^^::!:; "" '' '''' ^-""'^ '' ^^^^^^ '^^' ^^- -- ^--rnor and 

lutfons^-t,^"''^''T'^l'^^"'f'^^' atTopeka, which adopted the reso- 
ton and ' '" constitution that was sent to Washing- 

4th. The introduction of the bill before alluded to 

buch IS the brief history of that act by which the people of the ]Noiii. 

^Unil^'^^''" '''''' '"^"^^^ 'T''' ^^ ^-^'-^^-1 - - free State imo 
the Union . A more systematic scheme of political deception was neve,- 

'enc 'of noC. "^ 'if''''''' ^"^^ ^"^'^^^^S' ^'^'- ^^^^ --n the n" 
Do in^ thoW H^^ the requisite population ; without the means of up- 
of t e^neonle >r '.a ^'"'', g-^'"-"ent; without tlie proper sanction 
and suiToTndi'n. f'"' -^^i authority of law ; without any of the elements 
and smroundmgs of an independent State sovereignty or the ability to pro- 
vide^, a party of men in Ifansas have been ?riininally encouraged to 



brave the constituted iuitborities of the Territory and the nation, and 
with fraudulent credentials to demand the recognition of Congress. 

Here are my reasons for voting against the bill which was introduced 
into the House of Representatives upon the basis of that very constitution 
which the Senate had refused to consider. To have voted for it would, 
in the first place, have been to sanction an organized resistance against 
the constituted authorities, by a body of men who had made no appeal to 
the proper judicial tribunals from any supposed or real act of tyranny, 
and in the second place, to have voted for it would have been to aid in the 
perpetration of a designed fraud upon those who really desire to see Kan- 
sas enter the Union as a free State. The manner in w hich the application 
had already been disposed of in the Senate was an assurance that it could 
not pass that body or become a law, and the immediate surroundings of the 
subject afforded ample proof that it was designed only as an electioneering 
document by the (so-called) Republican party. 

Had the people of Kansas made an application to Congress asking 
admission into the Union as a free State ; — had that application appeared 
as the offspring of popular sentiment, instead of being clothed in the garb 
of defiance and revolution ; — had it come with even a fair semblance of 
legality, no vote would have been given more cheerfully in its favor than 
mine. I earnestly desire that Kansas shall enter the Union as a Free 
State ; I am no advocate of the institution of slavery, yet with all its 
characteristics, whatever they may be, I cannot lose sight of the fact that 
it is the right of the people of every State to entertain or to reject it at 
their pleasure. 

The Northern States have, from motives of interest, cast the institution 
from their borders, and it is not to be doubted that, if left to itself, fre« 
from the intermeddling dictation of those Avho have no immediate interest 
in it, it would speedily be banished from all the Middle States and some 
of the more Southern. The very attrition of the system of free labor, with 
its great moral and progressive power, is an incentive to emulation, and 
no Slave State can long withstand the disparaging contrast which is now 
presented in favor of free labor when the two systems are brought into 
neighborly contact. Through this cause alone, and by a natural and 
healthy process-, the dignity of labor would be vindicated, and slavery 
gradually but permanently abandoned. 

But this result can never be accomplished by forcible measures, without 
disturbing the equilibrium of the country, and jeopardizing at once the 
stability of the Federal compact, and the institutions of civil and religious 
freedom. To avert this danger, reliance must be had upon the patriotism 
and intelligence of the people in all the States — North, South, East, and 
West. They alone can shape the destiny of the American Republic. On 
them falls the responsibility of frowning down alike the sectional incen- 
diary and the misguided fanatic. On the people rests the duty of pre- 
serving those blessings so dearly won, and too often so lightly valued, or 
of enduring the fearful alternative, disunion, civil war, and national anni- 
hilation. 

Your obedient servant, 

THOS. R. WHITNEY. 



I R C U L A Ft. 

The undersigned, members of the National Executive Committek of the American 
iPABTV, have pleasure in announcinc; to the people, that satisfactory arrangements for the 
future maintenance of the AMERICAN ORGAN, as an authoritative exponent and advocate 
■wf the principles of the American party, have been completed. 

Kecommencinj!; its hibors, under these new auspices, the undersi{i;ned cheerfully commend 
•the American Ouoan to the generous confidence of the American Party, in every section of 
.the (!onfcderacy, and they hope its columnn may command the widest circulation. 

HUMPHREY MARSHALL, of Ky. 
SOLOMON G. HAVEN, of N. Y. 
J. MORRLSON HARRIS, of Md. 
JACOB BROOM, of Pcnn. 
\Vt*)UNcrioN CiKT, D. C, May 15. IR.Jfi. 



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Proprietor . 



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